Unless you do contruction work in the vest I don't see why we cyclists would need to wash the vest often. I've been using my Alert Shirt ANSI Calss II vest since October every day twice a day and I still see no need to wash it yet. It has seen plenty of rain, but I imagine it is the rubbing in the washing machine that realy huts the refelctive coating.

As a side note, orange vests are slowing being phased out by road workers in the USA and form what I've seen are pretty much gone in Europe. Many studies have shown that under low light (but not total darkness) conditions the orange starts to look more dark and black while the hi-vis yellow-green remains very visable. Therefore I don't understand why anyone would build a safety vest of orange. I wear my vest mornings and nights even though it is officially light in the morning, but it is definitely not yet bright outside. I also use a Superflash in the back plus a cheapy Pyramid 5 LED light. I also added 3M Solas tape to my rear fender and the back of my helmet I now "glow" from head to toe during might cycling. You just can't make yourself visable enough.

Happy riding,
André

Yes, I've noticed on the tag of some of these safety garments, vests, t-shirts, etc, with the reflective tape that they seem to be rated for a certain number of washing cycles. I prefer to use the vests, since you really don't need to wash them versus the t-shirts with the reflective taping that would need to be washed frequently.

I've never washed my old reflective vest, going on 2 years now. Most of the time it's on the outside of my rain jacket. It gets put on, has a lot of air hit it, then hung up again. I wash everything else at least occasionally, except my shoes which just sort of eventually shuffle off the dust and mud.

As someone said though, at $4, even if you need a new one every 6 months, who the heck cares?

Next time I get over to the store, I'm buying one for each of our cars and a spare.

I have also heard that the 3M white reflective tape is only good for so many washings. It is unclear to me if after a certain number of washings, does it simply lose its reflectivity or does it essentially fall apart.

For this reason, I bought a bunch of AlertShirt T-shirts that I use in the summer for short recreational rides. This allows me to rotate them through the wash, and I turn them inside out, putting the tape on the inside, before washing. I don't know if this actually helps, but I figure it could not hurt.

I agree - I washed mine once every six months at best.

I am not sure the abolition of orange is a great idea - I (anecdotally) believe it to be much brighter during the day, with the yellow/green being better at night. Two tone would be best of all, like this:

http://www.bonthronebikes.co.uk/img/M/463879.jpg

Unfortunately, I don't think the white bands (the most important bit at night) are wide or bright enough for my taste on the Altura jacket.

I feel the same way about orange vs. green. You could always add your own reflective tape to a vest as well.

Yeah, the reflective stuff that has a shiny surface like that seems not to be the best stuff. The stuff that's on the vest I found to be the brightest was the matte finish stuff that looks gray in normal light, but "turns on" when you move it so that your head is nearly between it and a light source.

For day conditions, all of the "safety" colors work well. As the light fades, human vision loses it's ability to distinquish colors and they all gray together. ANSI Lime remains the brightest at low light, thje last to go gray - with the only exception being white, which is not an ANSI background color. But, this is where the ANSI White refective strips come in: The 3M White reflective strips are superior to all other reflective strips because white returns more light back to it's source than any other color.

My opinion on flashers is that any additional attenuator you can put on your night bike or your person is to your advantage. One of the most effective strategies that I have ever used is DOT C2 truck tape - in white - cut into small squares and struck onto the rims between the spokes. Nothing says BIKE like that. It's visable from all oblique angles of approach.

Thanks.

That must be the same reflective trim on my tights that is getting all worn out, it was fine until I washed it. But the pannier stripes look almost the same as when I got them. It must be because they don't get flexed or moved much.

My consensus also. I use the DOT tape the same way and use the red on the rear of racks and on frames. All of my bikes run at bare minimum a fixed red light and a flasher on the rear. I got a PB Superflash a while back and it has fast become one of my favorites, I may have to spring for a couple more.

Aaron:)

Bailey says you should combine bright orange for day/dusk conditions, white reflective tape for car headights to reflect on, and red blinkers so you show up when there are no bright lights pointed at you.

http://img225.imageshack.us/img225/8582/hpim8749gv2.jpg

No, I think they're slightly different. The piping on tights, sneakers etc is a little more fabricy, but the printed stripe of Scotchlite on the vests is more like a slightly plasyicky iron-on T-shirt decal.

That's interesting to hear. I think you're right. The Piping on the tights wore out very quickly.

The white strips on Bailey's vest and my Panniers are sewn on tape. But the pannier tape is a lot thicker, or it has a backing on it. I guess there are all quality levels and types available. I used to think they were all the same.

Agreed. I find that the reflectivity diminishes on both yellow and white after about a year. The 3-M Glass bead stuff seems to have the best staying power.

You mean from flexing or abrasion, like wearing something or washing it ?

Some of the things I own have a clear or tinted plastic layer on top, I guess that might be to reduce wear. The new white reflective belt I have has a thin plastic backing, almost like the old plastic handlebar tape, then the reflective material and then then a clear plastic layer, all sewn together. I think your light belt is similar, with the light strip under the top clear layer ? I had a different brand light belt that stopped working and I pulled the light strip out the end leaving layers just like my new white one.


Bailey has a new leash that has a red LED light in a little pouch with the bulb end touching one end of a clear soft plastic fiberoptic "like" tube That shows light along the lenght when viewed from the sides. It is on top of the yellow reflective tape. It's pretty good for $10, not great, but OK. Apparently you could make the clear tube as long as you like. Like going around a helmet or something.

http://us.st11.yimg.com/us.st.yimg.c...6_1986_6552668

The Scotchlite reflectant fabric (with no clear protector) seems to lose reflectivity pretty steadily from washing. Come to think of it, the High gloss 2" 3-M glass bead doesn't seem to lose much at all even with flexing.

I tried the fiber optic first, but couldn't get good visibiity better than say 6'. Cool idea tho.

2MB, That running band you sent has the hi-gloss 3-M (or comparable)...is still OK...and is rained on most every day...it flexes on the helmet. It's similar to Bailey's collar in this photo. His collar seems to be holding up well too. Not sure how much it's flexing though.

I'm glad it's working OK in the rain !

Bailey's light collar almost does not flex. It just sits there, there is almost no stress on it. It better last forever.

it also wears out via abrasion and flexing.

Are you sure his name isn't Fred?
Do the other dogs make fun of him?

Seriously, if he's on a 6ft leash does he really need all that?
You might want to look into Ruffwear as they make some fiber optic dog collars. I use them on one of my dogs where she's allowed to be off leash at night in certain areas.

Hey! Baily is an accomplished cyclist...the "Fred" status is a badge of honor:D


Aaron:)

It's also useful for lighting up the human at the other end of the leash!

:roflmao::roflmao::roflmao:

Is the dog version of "Fred" a "Fido" ? Is he a Fred's Fido ?
Are you saying I should get lit before walking him?
He's the only one that wants to ride whenever I do !

;)

There are some good LED and Xenon strobe units out there. My out of stock Radio Shack xenon strobe cost about $12, www.allelectronics.com sell them for about $10, a couple of Planet Bike LED units (one for each side would cost up to $60, and a PSE Amber warning strobe runs ~$50 and is commercial grade.